16
He will come and destroy those tenant farmers and give the vineyard to others." And [when they] heard [this], they said, "[May this] never happen!"
17
But he looked intently at them [and] said, "What then is this that is written: 'The stone which the builders rejected, this has become {the cornerstone}.'
18
Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and [the one] on whom it falls--it will crush him!"
19
And the scribes and the chief priests sought to lay [their] hands on him at [that] same hour, and they were afraid of the people, for they knew that he had told this parable with reference to them.
Paying Taxes to Caesar
20 And they watched [him] closely [and] sent spies who pretended they were upright, in order that they could catch him in a statement, so that they could hand him over to the authority and the jurisdiction of the governor.
21
And they asked him, saying, "Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and do not {show partiality}, but teach the way of God in truth.
22
Is it permitted [for] us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"
23
But seeing through their craftiness, he said to them,
24
"Show me a denarius! Whose image and inscription does it have?" And they answered [and] said, "Caesar's."
25
So he said to them, "Well then, give to Caesar the things of Caesar, and to God the things of God!"
26
And they were not able to catch [him] in a statement in the sight of the people, and astonished at his answer, they became silent.